The Ups and Downs for Up North Pride: "The only way we’re going to get through things is together"

The northern Michigan organization navigates another year under increasing attacks on the LGBTQ+ population

By Jillian Manning | May 30, 2026

Around this time each year, we check the ACLU’s “Mapping Attacks on LGBTQ Rights in U.S. State Legislatures” dashboard. As of late May 2026, there were 529 anti-LGBTQ bills active in the U.S. That includes 23 here in Michigan, which range from bans on students participating in school sports and facilities to book and curriculum censorship to healthcare age restrictions.

Note that we’re less than halfway through the year. In 2025, there were a total of 616 bills, per ACLU’s reporting, while 2024 had 533 and 2023 had 510.

But those challenges aren’t the whole story. When we sat down with Adrienne Brown-Reaser, executive director of Traverse City’s Up North Pride, she had plenty of bright spots to highlight, from new support groups to exciting events in June and beyond. And her overall takeaway was that despite the new pressures put on our LGBTQ+ friends and neighbors, the northern Michigan community is still showing up in ways big and small.

Read on for our interview with Adrienne, which has been edited for length and clarity.

Express: You started a temporary community center last year, utilizing space in the old Copy Central on Eighth Street. How did that go?
Brown-Reasner: Last [summer] we had been given the opportunity to pilot what it’s like to have our own community space and moved into space on Eighth Street. It really allowed us the chance to throw everything at the wall and see what kind of things people are interested in. We were able to start a few different social groups; we started having an art night, we started doing a line dancing night, we started a senior coffee meetup. And then we also were able to launch a couple of other support groups, including a youth group, which started back in November.

We were very fortunate to be able to have that opportunity to launch some of those programs. Unfortunately, our time at that space has come to an end. We knew it was going to be temporary, and the property has been sold. But now that we've established a lot of these groups, we’re able to figure out where else they can take place.

Express: Where can folks find you now?
Brown-Reasner: We’ve been able to create some new partnerships with, for example, Artemis Books hosting our Art Night now. We’re working with the Friendship Center out in Suttons Bay to hold this month’s game night and line dancing night because they have a much larger space. … We are continuing the youth group, and we’ve got some weeks that we’re meeting at the Unitarian Universalist Church, some weeks we have a space reserved at the library. We are really, truly getting back to the mission of creating supportive, inclusive spaces around the region, not just of our own.

Express: Speaking of events, what are some of your highlights from UNP during Pride Month in June?
Brown-Reasner: We’ll be again partnering with the TART Trail folks and team for the Rainbow Run on June 20. It’s around the Boardman Lake Loop, and I know registration is still available for runners or walkers, and we definitely need volunteers to help make that event happen. That’s always such a really fun day just to be outside, and it's a very colorful day by nature!

Then June 25 we are doing the Pride Ride with Norte, meeting at F&M Park for a guided loop around downtown. We’re also still working out details, but working on a poetry event that will be at TC Whiskey later in the month, with some spoken word artists from downstate who reached out and said that they really wanted to do something up here.

Express: And then you’re on track for the big celebration in September?
Brown-Reasner: Pride Week will be Sept. 23-26, and we’re bringing back a lot of the things that people have gotten used to. So we’ll have a storytelling event. We have our sign-making party. We will have a comedy night. … Intimi will be hosting a fashion show, the Intimi Affair. … And then our big day is Saturday, so we’ll have a rally and the visibility march, starting from F&M Park around noon and ending at the Open Space, going right into our Resource Fair. And then our everyone’s favorite drag night and silent disco, with performances starting around 6pm.

Express: You’ve added other events to the calendar throughout the year too.
Brown-Reasner: [May 30] we have our first LGBTQ plus health fair. We’ve started a trans and nonbinary support group, which started last year and has continued to have a full list every single time that they meet, which is really exciting. We’ve got the partners of trans group that started, and we just were awarded a grant that’s going to help us launch a parents’ group too.

We are always listening to the community for what it is that people want, whether that is a social event, if it is a support group, if it’s an educational event. We’ve held a couple of name change clinics and know your rights events, just in response to hearing questions that people were asking.

Express: What other questions are you hearing being asked? What are some of the big concerns for the LGTBQ+ community?
Brown-Reasner: I think the biggest things that we're hearing and the biggest list of questions I'm getting is really focused on access to healthcare, specifically for trans and nonbinary folks, and explicitly for minors who are trans. … There’s many, many other issues facing the community as well, but those are the biggest and loudest, and so that’s part of why the trans and nonbinary support group has gone so well and been so successful. It's just providing a space for people to be able to talk about what they’re scared about, or talk through the anxieties that they’re having or issues that they’re running into.

A big part of getting the [parents’ group] started was because of parents coming to me and saying that they’re scared. They are worried about how their other kids are treated in school, how their kids are treated by their doctors. It’s sad that we’re at a day and age where that’s even something we have to talk about—these are very private conversations that have been made very, very public, and for no reason.

Express: What role do you see UNP playing in the community as a whole as you navigate these uncertain times?
Brown-Reasner: I’ve kind of had this mantra of the only way we’re going to get through things is together. So that that is more where our focus is—that community building, and that nobody feels alone, and that people know there’s someone that they can reach out to if they have questions, or if something happens and they need to report something, or if they run into an issue that they’ve never seen before… We have this network here that can help connect you with whoever you need or whatever resource you might need.

Express: How has the atmosphere felt here in northern Michigan lately?
Brown-Reasner: It feels different. … There’s not been a lot of outward negativity or hate toward us. … Certain sponsors, certain partners, are a little quieter, just because, like their DEI programs may have been cut, and so they can't partner in the same way. But at the same time, we’ve had others who saw that this was happening and jumped up and said, “Can we fill in this gap?”

We are then also seeing a lot of supporters, a lot of allies, step up and ask, “How can I help? How can we do more? How can we be more supportive?” Which is a really beautiful thing about this area, is that that is a much stronger feeling than the negative side.

Express: How can the community show up for you?
Brown-Reasner: It can be anything from wearing a rainbow pin on your jacket to come to an event and hold a sign. Come along with your friends or your family to some of our events. Just be in the room. Be part of the conversation. It is already showing your support that you want to be there.

We’re in a very tumultuous time, and none of us have a real firm grasp of what’s going to come next. So just check on your friends, check on your family, and just be there in whatever way that means to you. And again, if it’s having a rainbow flag on your front porch, even if it’s just for June, or if it’s, making a donation and volunteering for an Up North Pride event—whatever your capacity is to do it. Just don’t be afraid to do it.

To learn more about Up North Pride’s events and programs, visit upnorthpride.com. Photo by OB&Co., courtesy of Up North Pride.